glacial period

British  

noun

1. any period of time during which a large part of the earth's surface was covered with ice, due to the advance of glaciers, as in the late Carboniferous period, and during most of the Pleistocene; glaciation

2. (often capitals) the Pleistocene epoch

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Example Sentences

In the case of the last glacial period 100,000 years ago, ice cores from Greenland in particular provide researchers with detailed data.

From Science Daily • Feb. 12, 2024

Scientists know that around 200,000 years ago Earth was experiencing a glacial period and our ancestors were migrating out of Africa.

From New York Times • Nov. 22, 2021

But today’s melting and large-scale sediment flushing is happening much faster than what would occur at the end of a glacial period, she adds.

From Scientific American • Oct. 28, 2021

Formed during the late Pleistocene, the Earth’s last glacial period, which ended about 11,700 years ago, Yedoma consists of thick layers of soil packed around gigantic lodes of embedded ice.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 4, 2019

The interruption of this cycle was caused by the advent of the glacial period which disturbed the normal course of erosion.

From The Geography of the Region about Devils Lake and the Dalles of the Wisconsin by Atwood, Wallace W.